16 comments

Thomas McCartney

No matter what you identify them as or what you choose to call them if any dog has pit bull genetics in it then the outcome of said genetics are always the same, death, mauling's, crippled and disfigured victims when their DNA is expressed into reality which it invariably will be the case.

So you can call them something else to protect them but they are still pit mixes who are what they are and do what they do, who as a result have no right to ever come into human contact.

Pit bull or Pit bull cross, same difference same outcome same reality as to what they are.

And all Pit bulls or restricted dogs including pit bull crosses by law should have leashes and Muzzles which they never have and all to often you seem them running around as such unmuzzled, this is an even greater problem then them being unleashed and that is bad enough

Certain breeds like Pit bulls etc.are fundamentally evil in nature and action and do not deserve the freedom of action to carry out their DNA.

The point is, other dogs bite, Pit bulls and Pit bull crosses and others like mastiffs, Rotts etc. attack and kill and maim, that is the big difference in the outcome and should result in a completely different attitude towards these dogs and why they should be banned outright. The stats are very clear and accurate and show this reality even if you want to put your head in the sand, it still is what it is.

2/3 of the fatalities by pit bull type dogs in 2013 were the actual family members of the pit bull who had been raised from a pup in optimal conditions, these are facts that are documented.

Thomas McCartney

About 31,400 dogs attacked about 61,500 other animals in the U.S. in 2013, killing 43,500 and seriously injuring 18,100.

The animals killed included about 12,000 dogs, 8,000 cats, 6,000 hooved animals, and 17,000 other small domestic animals, primarily poultry.

The seriously injured included about 12,400 dogs, 4,000 cats, and 1,700 hooved animals. Few small mammals and poultry survived reported dog attacks.

Pit bulls inflicted 99% of the total fatal attacks on other animals (43,000); 96% of the fatal attacks on other dogs (11,520); 95% of the fatal attacks on livestock (5,700) and on small mammals and poultry (16,150); and 94% of the fatal attacks on cats (11,280).

About 30,000 pit bulls were involved in attacks on other animals, many of them killing multiple other animals.

There are about 3.2 million pit bulls in the U.S. at any given time, according to the annual Animal24-7 surveys of dogs offered for sale or adoption via online classified ads.

Thus in 2013 about one pit bull in 107 killed or seriously injured another animal, compared with about one dog in 50,000 of other breeds.

Nationally, fatal and disfiguring attacks by dogs from shelters and rescues have exploded from zero in the first 90 years of the 20th century to 80 since 2010, including 58 by pit bulls, along with 22 fatal & disfiguring attacks by other shelter dogs, mostly Rottweilers & bull mastiffs.

Altogether, 33 U.S. shelter dogs have participated in killing people since 2010, including 24 pit bulls, seven bull mastiffs, and two Rottweilers.

The only dogs rehomed from U.S. shelters to kill anyone before 2000 were two wolf hybrids, rehomed in 1988 and 1989, respectively.

Thomas McCartney

My Legislation Proposal to be enacted by all states,
cities and counties in the US & Canada.

All dogs must be:
Or all dangerous dogs must be:
Or all dangerous molosser breeds, including pit bulls (American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire bull terriers, American pit bull terriers, American Bulldog, Bull mastiffs, dogo argentinos, fila brasieros, presa canarios, Japanese Tosa, cane corsos and their mixes and any dog generally recognized as a pit bull or pit bull terrier and includes a dog of mixed breed with predominant pit bull or pit bull terrier characteristics), rottweilers, chow chows, Doberman pinschers, German shepherds, must be:

* Licensed
* All Pit bull type dogs Micro-chipped with any bite history in database for reference.
* Insured: All dogs must be covered by mandatory liability insurance of $100,000 min. generic and $500,000 after a skin breaking bite with insurance companies based on actuarial statistic's determining said rate.
* Spayed/neutered (except for limited approved show dog breeders)
* All breeds involved in any bite incident must be kenneled in a locked five-sided enclosure with concrete bottom.

For all other dog owners language can be written that enclosure such as fences must be capable of containing your dog period, such generic language puts the onus on the owner, have the fines be so onerous that said owner will ensure this they make this so.

1,000 the first time, double the second time and permanent confiscation the third time with a ban on said person from owning any dog within city limits, this will create an effective outcome directly or indirectly.
* All dogs must be on leashes outside of home enclosure
* All molosser breeds must also be muzzled outside of home enclosure

* No transport of declared dangerous dogs for the purpose of re-homing. (Dangerous dogs must be dealt with where their history is known.)
* All of the rules listed above also apply to rescues: rescued dogs must be licensed and subject to inspection.

$1,000 fine for noncompliance
Elimination of the one-bite rule in all of the 50 U.S. states
Manslaughter charges for owner of dog that kills a human
Felony charge for owner of dog that mauls human, dog, or other domestic animal.

Thomas McCartney

Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Pit bulls are not only problematic in large cities; they threaten mid-sized cities and small towns as well. Located in the heartland, Council Bluffs, Iowa has about 60,000 citizens.

After a series of devastating attacks, beginning in 2003, Council Bluffs joined over 600 U.S. cities and began regulating pit bulls.

The results of the Council Bluffs pit bull ban, which began January 1, 2005, show the positive effects such legislation can have on public safety in just a few years time:1.

"Despite these limitations and concerns
(about identifying the exact ‘breed’ of pit bull type dog responsible for a
killing), the data indicate that Rottweilers and pit bull-type dogs accounted
for 67% of human DBRF in the United States between 1997 and 1998.

It is extremely unlikely that they accounted for anywhere near 60% of dogs in the
United States during that same period and, thus, there appears to be a
breed-specific problem with fatalities."

Thomas McCartney

In June 2013, after a Bay Area child was killed by a family pit bull, San Francisco Animal Care and Control cited the decrease in pit bull bites and euthanasia since the adoption of a 2005 pit bull law.

After 12-year-old Nicholas Faibish was fatally mauled by his family's pit bulls, the city adopted a mandatory spay-neuter law for the breed. The reasoning was that fixed dogs tend to be calmer and better socialized.

Since then, San Francisco has impounded 14 percent fewer pit bulls and euthanized 29 percent fewer – which is a "significant decrease," said Rebecca Katz, director of the city's Animal Care and Control department.

Another significant indicator, she said, is that there have been 28 pit bull bites reported in the past three years – and 1,229 bites by other breeds during the same period. In the three-year period before that, there were 45 pit bull bites and 907 incidents involving other breeds.

Results of mandatory breed-specific S/N in SF: success in San Francisco, where in just eight years there was a 49% decline in the number of pit-bulls impounded, a 23% decline in the number of pit-bulls euthanized, and an 81% decline in the number of pit-bulls involved in fatal and disfiguring attacks.

When the City of Auburn debated enacting a pit bull law in January 2010, Sgt. Bill Herndon of the San Francisco Police Department weighed in about the success of San Francisco's 2005 pit bull law:

"Since requiring all pit bulls to be neutered, they say they are finding fewer pit bulls involved in biting incidents.

Sgt. Bill Herndon, of the San Francisco Police Department's vicious dog unit, said the numbers and severity of pit bull attacks are down since San Francisco enacted an ordinance in 2005 after the mauling death of 12-year-old Nicholas Faibish.
"The number of complaints of mean pit bulls has dropped dramatically," Herndon said.

San Francisco's animal control department reports more than 30 percent fewer pit bulls at the shelter or being euthanized."
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Ed Boks, Executive director, Yavapai Humane Society (responsible Jan 2004 as director City Center for Animal Care & Control in NYC for trying to rename pit bulls New Yorkies; is pb owner)

Pit bull type dogs represent 3000% the actuarial risk compared to other types of dogs.
Insurance companies will have calculated the risks the other listed breeds represent based on what they’ve had to pay out through the years.

This isn’t ‘prejudice’, this is cold statistical reality. Actuarial realities don’t yield to sentiment or a feeling of entitlement — they just are what they are

Pit bulls have been banned the world over as well as 0ver 600 cities, towns and counties in the US alone.

The prohibition on the pit bull type dog wouldn't be anything unusual.
In 1989, Miami may have been one of the first communities to ban pit bulls — but it sure hasn't been the last, raising questions as to whether it's only a matter of time before every municipality imposes some sort of regulation on the animal.

Already, more than a dozen countries have banned pit bulls, making it, quite possibly, the most regulated and feared dog in the canine world.

Composed from various online resources, here's a breakdown of the bans and regulations:

Countries that have enacted regulation on pit bulls (or some deviation):

**In 1991, Singapore prohibited the entry of pit bulls into the country.

Thomas McCartney

Merritt Clifton Editor Of Animals24-7:

I have logged fatal & disfiguring dog attacks in the U.S. and Canada since September 1982.

Of the 4,843 dogs involved in fatal and disfiguring attacks on humans occurring in the U.S. & Canada since September 1982, when I began logging the data, 3,309 (68%) were pit bulls; 551 were Rottweilers; 4,139 (85%) were of related molosser breeds, including pit bulls, Rottweilers, mastiffs, bull mastiffs, boxers, and their mixes.

Of the 558 human fatalities, 294 were killed by pit bulls; 87 were killed by Rottweilers; 422 (75%) were killed by molosser breeds.

Of the 2,934 people who were disfigured, 2,007 (68%) were disfigured by pit bulls; 322 were disfigured by Rottweilers; 2,493 (84%) were disfigured by molosser breeds.

Pit bulls–exclusive of their use in dogfighting–also inflict more than 70 times as many fatal and disfiguring injuries on other pets and livestock as on humans, a pattern unique to the pit bull class.

Fatal and disfiguring attacks by dogs from shelters and rescues have exploded from zero in the first 90 years of the 20th century to 80 in the past four years, including 58 by pit bulls, along with 22 fatal & disfiguring attacks by other shelter dogs, mostly Rottweilers & bull mastiffs.

The only dogs rehomed from U.S. shelters to kill anyone, ever, before 2000 were two wolf hybrids in 1988 and 1989. 33 U.S. shelter dogs & one U.K. shelter dog have participated in killing people since 2010, including 24 pit bulls, seven bull mastiffs, and two Rottweilers.

Surveys of dogs offered for sale or adoption indicate that pit bulls and pit mixes are less than 6% of the U.S. dog population; molosser breeds, all combined, are 9%.

Thomas McCartney

From 1930 to 1960
when less than 1% of the dogs in the U.S. were sterilized & most
still were allowed to run free, but far fewer than 1% were pit bulls, the U.S.
had a grand total of 15 dog attack fatalities:

9 by pit bulls, 2 by Dobermans, four by unidentified mutts.
The U.S. in 1960 had 611,000 total reported dog bites.

The numbers of bites dropped to 585,000 by 1966, then
began a steady rise to 4.7 million plus.

The numbers of fatalities climbed to an average of about 10 per year by
1990, when pit bulls were about 2% of the dog population, rose steadily for the next 15 years or so, consistently reached 20-plus by the end of the 20th century, as pit bulls reached 3% of the dog population, then soared into the mid-30's post-2010.

Pits & their close mixes are now between 5% and 6% of the dog population.

Among survivors, pit bulls are responsible for the most serious mauling's, and any
insurance company will tell you that they cause the highest insurance claims as
a pit bull attack is a sustained action that is repeated until someone or something stops the pit bull.

A bite is a one time action that doesn't need a police officer's intervention.
Pet ownership is another issue.

Pit bulls inflicted 99% of the total fatal attacks on other animals (43,000); 96% of the fatal attacks on other dogs (11,520); 95% of the fatal attacks on livestock (5,700) and on small mammals and poultry (16,150); and 94% of the fatal attacks on cats (11,280).

In 2013 about one pit bull in 107 killed or seriously injured
another animal, compared with about one dog in 50,000 of other breeds.

Discrimination against pit bulls is not the problem.
It is normal dogs that are discriminated against.

Denial of the rights of (non pit bull ) pet owners to safely enjoy, and love a pet is the issue.

When the actions of pitbulls continue to cause harm and inhibit the safe use and enjoyment of pets, and public and private property, the pit bull dog and its owners are selfishly taking away the liberties of other human beings.

Thomas McCartney

When the City of Woonsocket was debating a pit bull ordinance in June 2009, the animal control supervisor in Pawtucket, John Holmes, spoke about the enormous success of Pawtucket's 2003 pit bull ban:

"Holmes says he predicted that it would take two years for Pawtucket to experience the full benefit of the law after it was passed, but the results were actually apparent in half the time.

"It's working absolutely fantastic," said Holmes. "We have not had a pit bull maiming in the city since December of 2004."

Holmes says the law also capped the number of legal pit bulls in Pawtucket to about 70 animals."

In July 2013, Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien and City Council President David Moran sent a joint letter to Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee asking that he reject a statewide anti-BSL measure before him.

While they agree that some pit bulls can make good pets, said Moran and Grebien, "the number and severity of pit bull attacks against people and other animals in the early 2000s required us to take the action we did."

Prior to the 2004 city ordinance, Pawtucket Animal Control officers responded to many calls about serious pit bull attacks against people and animals, according to the letter. Two of the worst cases involved a nine-month pregnant woman and a child.

While proponents of the bill argue that breed-specific bans don't work, said Grebien and Moran, "the results in Pawtucket dramatically prove that they do work."

In 2003, the year before the local ban on pit bulls went into effect, 135 pit bulls, all from Pawtucket, were taken in at the Pawtucket Animal Control Shelter for a variety of health and safety reasons, with 48 of those dogs needing to be put down.

In 2012, 72 pit bulls were taken in, only 41 from Pawtucket, with only six needing to be euthanized, according to the two officials.
"That's a tremendous improvement," they state in their letter.
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Per section 8-55 of Denvers pit bull ban:

A pit bull, is defined as any dog that is an APBT, Am Staf Terrier, Staff Bull Terrier, or any dog displaying the majority of physical traits of anyone (1) or more of the above breeds, or any dog exhibiting those distinguishing characteristics which substantially conform to the standards set by the AKC or UKC for any of the above breed.

Over the course of 22 years, the Denver ban has withstood numerous battles in state and federal courts. It has been used as a model for over 600 USA cities that legislate pit bulls, as well as US Navy, Air Force, Marine and Army bases ( so much for Sgt Stubby).

without it, we'd see just what we see in Miss E's lame replies. Every pit owner would claim their land shark was anything but a pit bull.

Miami Dade county voted 66% to keep their pit bull ban, just as it is worded, last year.

Thomas McCartney

Springfield, MO

In April 2008, the Springfield-Greene County Health Department released data to a local TV station – following the City of Springfield's adoption of a 2006 pit bull ban:

"The Springfield-Greene County Health Department reports that dog bites and vicious dog complaints are declining since the implementation of the Pit Bull Ordinance in the City of Springfield two years ago. In 2005 the health department fielded 18 vicious dog complaints, but only eight in 2007. Bites were down from 102 in 2005 to 87 in 2007."

"The ordinance, which requires pit bull owners to register their dogs annually, has also resulted in fewer pit bull dogs being impounded at the Springfield Animal Shelter.

In 2005 there were 502 pit bull and pit bull mixes impounded, compared to only 252 in 2007.

According to statistics taken from the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, as reported in the News-Leader March 12, for the three-year period beginning in 2004, there were 42 "vicious" animal attacks recorded in the jurisdiction covered.

After passing the local ordinance banning or strictly controlling the ownership of pit bull or pit bull types, the number of attacks has dropped dramatically.

For the five-year period from 2007-2011, there was a total of 14.

"Because we are impounding fewer pit bulls, we've also seen overcrowding in our shelter subside," says assistant director Clay Goddard. "It is the natural tendency of pit bulls to fight, so our animal control staff are forced to segregate them in individual pens.

When we have several pit bulls in the shelter simultaneously, this severely limits space for other dogs."
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Washington

In 2008, the City of Wapato passed an ordinance that bans new pit bulls, rottweilers and mastiffs. Nine months after its adoption, in March 2009, Wapato Police Chief Richard Sanchez reported successful results:

"Nine months into the ban and police calls about vicious dogs have been cut in half. The Wapato Police tell Action News they've gone from 18 reports in January, February and March of last year to seven so far in '09. "Seven calls in three months… that's nothing," says Chief Richard Sanchez, Wapato Police Department.

Chief Sanchez credits local cooperation for the decline of dangerous dogs."

Thomas McCartney

Toronto:

In a November 2011, public health statistics published by Global Toronto showed that pit bull bites dropped dramatically after Ontario adopted the Dog Owners Liability Act in 2005, an act that banned pit bulls:

The number of dog bites reported in Toronto has fallen since a ban on pit bulls took effect in 2005, public health statistics show.

A total of 486 bites were recorded in 2005. That number fell generally in the six years following, to 379 in 2010.

Provincial laws that banned 'pit bulls,' defined as pit bulls, Staffordshire terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, American pit bull terriers and dogs resembling them took effect in August 2005. Existing dogs were required to be sterilized, and leashed and muzzled in public.

Bites in Toronto blamed on the four affected breeds fell sharply, from 71 in 2005 to only six in 2010. This accounts for most of the reduction in total bites.
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Salina, KS

Rose Base, director of the Salina Animal Shelter who lobbied for the ordinance, told the Salina Journal:

The ordinance has made a difference, she said. Records at the Salina Animal Shelter indicate there were 24 reported pit bull bites in 2003 and 2004, and only five since — none from 2009 to present.

Salina has 62 registered pit bulls, Base said. Before the ordinance she guessed there were "close to 300." Since the first of this year three of the registered pit bulls have died of old age.

"We definitely haven't had the severity of bites that we had in the past," Base said. "Our community has been somewhat safer because of the law that was passed
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Prince George's County, MD
Prince George's County passed a pit bull ban in 1996. In August 2009, Rodney Taylor, associate director of the county's Animal Management Group, said that the number of pit bull biting incidents has fallen:

"Taylor said that during the first five to seven years of the ban, animal control officials would encounter an average of 1,200 pit bulls a year but that in recent years that figure has dropped by about half. According to county statistics, 36 pit bull bites, out of 619 total dog bites, were recorded in 2008, down from 95 pit bull bites, out of a total of 853, in 1996."
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Salina KS (a second article)

Note that they admit that the pit bull ban did not reduce the number of bites, but it did reduce the severity of bites reported by all breeds. Proof that when pit bull deniers find a jurisdiction that banned pit bulls, but reported no decrease in overall bites, is a moot point. Its death and dismemberment we are focusing on, not bite counts.

In the monthly city newsletter, In Touch, published in September 2006, the City of Salina reported that the pit bull ban adopted in 2005 significantly reduced pit bull biting incidents in just a 12 month period.

The number of pit bull bites depicted in the "Salina Pit Bull Bites Reported" graph shows 2002 with 13 pit bull bites, 2003 with 11 pit bull bites, 2004 with 15 pit bull bites and 2005 with only one bite. The newsletter notes that "animal bites reported have remained constant, but the severity of bites have decreased dramatically" since the enactment of the pit bull ban

Thomas McCartney

In a discussion of the Denver ban, Assistant City Attorney Kory Nelson recently told the San Francisco Chronicle that:

“Since 1989, when that city instituted a pit bull ban, ‘we haven’t had one serious pit bull attack,’ said Kory Nelson, a Denver assistant city attorney. His city’s assertion that ‘pit bulls are more dangerous than other breeds of dog’ has withstood legal challenges, he said.

‘We were able to prove there’s a difference between pit bulls and other breeds of dogs that make pit bulls more dangerous,' he said."

Thomas McCartney

33 People dead by dog attack in 2013.
Pit bull type dogs killed thirty of them. sixteen of the twenty-nine dead are children.
Stars indicate people killed by a ‘family’ pit bull – ones that had been raised and cherished as an indoor pet, ‘never showed aggression before’, and knew the victim.

If 27 of 33 dead were killed by pit bull attack, that’s 82% dead by pit attack, 9% dead by ‘molosser’, 3% by some kind of GSD mix, 3% by a husky + possibly pit mix, 3% by Shiba Inu.

If you count the pit-mix mastiffs as pit bull types, that’s 91% killed by attacking pit bull types. Pit types are only about 6% of the entire dog population.

The man who ran into traffic kept pit bulls himself. He knew perfectly well what the two stranger pit bulls that were chasing him would do if they caught him, so he preferred to risk a swift death by oncoming car.

Thomas McCartney

24 People dead by dog attack in 2014
Pit bull type dogs killed 21 of them.
13 of the dead are children.

Stars indicate people killed by a ‘family’ pit bull – ones that had
been raised and cherished as an indoor pet, ‘never showed aggression
before’, and knew the victim.

Child fatalities by pit bull type dog (12)
Kara E. Hartrich, 4 years old, Bloomington, Illinois. **
Je'vaeh Maye, 2 years old, Temple Texas. **
Braelynn Rayne Coulter, 3 years old, High Point, North Carolina. **
Kenneth Santillan, 13 years old, Patterson, N.J. by a Bullmastiff
Raymane Camari Robinson, 2 years old, Killeen, TX by a Bullmastiff **
Mia Derouen, 4 years old, Houma, Louisiana **
Christopher Malone, 3 years old, Thornton, MS **
John Harvard, 5 year old, Riverside, AL **
Kassi Haith, 4 years old, Felton, Del.
Demonta Collins, 13 years old, Augusta, Georgia
he dashed into traffic as he was running from a pit bull attacking him and was hit by a car and was killed.
Davon Jiggetts,17 years old, Riverdale, Georgia
he dashed into traffic as he was running from a pit bull attacking him and was hit by a car as was the pit bull, both were killed.
Holden William Garrison-10 weeks old, Springfield Township, MI **
Friends of family state that the dog is a Pit bull Mix a Catahoula Hound mixed with Pit Bull.